Traditional forms of business communications, such as email, have become clogged with spam and are ill-suited for collaboration. The antiquated file sharing systems of most businesses make it nearly impossible to locate and share information. Social networks, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, provide easy access, continuous status updates, and spam-free messaging. Consequently, many businesses are attempting to replicate this success with enterprise social networks. Here they can tap into the power of social media to connect with customers, facilitate employee cooperation, and maintain a level of control and accountability not possible in public social networks.

There are two kinds of enterprise social networks, internal and external. The internal social network is also commonly referred to as a “social intranet” because it is used to replace and supplement the intranet and internal communication methods of a business. An external enterprise social network is “a system of web-based technologies that provide rapid and agile collaboration, information sharing, emergence and integration capabilities in the extended enterprise” as defined by the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM). More or less, the equivalent of a company LinkedIn (much more robust and customizable technologically) that allows employees to engage customers directly. Companies like Jive Software and Telligent provide software for businesses to implement enterprise social networks.

Although there are no hard and fast rules for establishing a successful enterprise social network, the following 6 steps help ensure a smoother and faster adoption.

Traditional forms of business communications, such as email, have become clogged with spam and are ill-suited for collaboration. The antiquated file sharing systems of most businesses make it nearly impossible to locate and share information. Social networks, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, provide easy access, continuous status updates, and spam-free messaging. Consequently, many businesses are attempting to replicate this success with enterprise social networks. Here they can tap into the power of social media to connect with customers, facilitate employee cooperation, and maintain a level of control and accountability not possible in public social networks.

There are two kinds of enterprise social networks, internal and external. The internal social network is also commonly referred to as a “social intranet” because it is used to replace and supplement the intranet and internal communication methods of a business. An external enterprise social network is “a system of web-based technologies that provide rapid and agile collaboration, information sharing, emergence and integration capabilities in the extended enterprise” as defined by the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM). More or less, the equivalent of a company LinkedIn (much more robust and customizable technologically) that allows employees to engage customers directly. Companies like Jive Software and Telligent provide software for businesses to implement enterprise social networks.

Although there are no hard and fast rules for establishing a successful enterprise social network, the following 6 steps help ensure a smoother and faster adoption.